Typhoon death toll estimated at 10,000

An Australian man removed from the priesthood for secretly marrying has been killed by typhoon Haiyan just weeks after becoming a father.

Kevin Lee, who made headlines worldwide in May last year when he was defrocked after revealing he had been married for more than a year, drowned after disappearing in rough surf off Samar Island in the Philippines. His body was found by police early on Sunday morning.

Mr Lee had been living with his Filipino wife, Josefina, and recently celebrated the birth of a baby girl, Michelle.

Kevin Lee, a former priest killed in Typhoon Haiyan, with daughter Michelle.

The 50-year-old, a whistleblower on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, recently reflected on his blog that had he not broken his vow of celibacy, his daughter would not be alive.

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''I have always believed that nothing happens without God's divine permission,'' he wrote.

The couple met in a Manila karaoke bar in 2011, when Mr Lee, then the priest at Padre Pio parish in Glenmore Park in Sydney's west, was on a pilgrimage with other members of the church.

Mr Lee has said they fell in love while singing George Michael's Careless Whisper. They married soon afterwards.

Before leaving the priesthood, Mr Lee met with then opposition leader Tony Abbott to discuss running for the western Sydney seat of Lindsay. He later sought Liberal preselection for the seat of McMahon but he was defeated by his friend Ray King, who was a police commander at Fairfield when Mr Lee was a police chaplain.

Mr King said on Sunday he and Mr Lee fell out over the preselection and he was ''devastated'' they had not had a chance to reconcile. Mr King remembered Mr Lee as a ''gifted priest'' who knew the names of all his parishioners and the children at the local Catholic schools.

He said the community was in shock over Mr Lee's death but it would rally around his widow, parents, Matthew and Margaret, and nine siblings.

''We all believed that Kevin had turned his life around with the birth of his baby and was really starting to enjoy his life in the Philippines,'' Mr King said.

Mr Lee said he witnessed the cover-up of serious crimes while a priest and had campaigned on behalf of victims of sexual abuse. His book, Unholy Silence, which claimed to expose the ''well kept, dark, in-house secrets'' of the church, was published this year.

Anthony Fisher, bishop of Mr Lee's former diocese of Parramatta, said he would offer a Mass for Mr Lee and called for prayers for him and his family.

''I extend my deepest sympathy to his widow, Josefina, and her children during this time of personal tragedy for them,'' Bishop Fisher said. ''I also extend my condolences to Kevin's parents and family here in Australia in their deep sorrow.

''Difficult as was the mode of his departure [from the church], we honour the work Kevin did as the founding parish priest of Padre Pio parish, Glenmore Park, and his ministry as a chaplain with NSW Police.''

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said Australians concerned about family and friends in the region should first try to contact them directly.